


The Beast Of Bray Road

by Helloleonardmccoy



Series: Hellboy run [3]
Category: Hellboy - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:40:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23807035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helloleonardmccoy/pseuds/Helloleonardmccoy
Summary: The team gets a call about a famous creature stalking the roads in rural Wisconsin. Liz contemplates her relationship with Hellboy and Hellboy is, as ever, oblivious. Original character deaths, and the teams getting hurt a lot. Set after Love After All. I always picture character as the characters from Hellboy 2.
Relationships: Hellboy/Liz Sherman
Series: Hellboy run [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715227
Kudos: 5





	1. Lucy Im home

Liz stretched as she sat up in bed, feeling her spine pop and sighing in relief at the feeling. Yawning she looked at the other side of the bed to find it empty. She frowned, wondering where Hellboy had gone so early in the morning. They had a late night in watching movies and eating junk food, so she was surprised he was even up. Sugar hang over was a thing, which is why she doesn't eat as much junk food anymore. Hellboy however couldnt get enough of it. She quickly pulled on her pants that were lying on the floor next to the bed and shrugged on a jacked before heading out of the room.

The hallway was already bustling since it was Friday. New creatures were always being brought in. Samples and tests taken, logs being filled out to record the findings on the new creatures. She quickly walked past a chimera, missing being swiped by claws. Further down the hallway was Abes room. He still had his set up in the library which was where he felt most at home. She knocked on the door, receiving a quiet ‘come in.’ 

“I thought I would find you here. What are you guys doing?” Hellboy and Abe were both bent over a desk with books splayed around it. She shuffled in closer to them. “Werewolves. Again?” She had a phobia of werewolves ever since they had chased one around Russia for two months, ending with her almost getting bit and then barbecuing the asshole alive. Hellboy had been really put out he hadn't gotten to use his silver bullets. He had pouted all the way to the airport.

“Specific werewolf this time, babe.“ Hellboy pointed at the book.

“Don’t call me babe.” She picked up the book. “Beast of Bray Road? Really? I thought that was an urban legend.”

“We didn’t have reason to believe it was anything until more reports of the creature started flowing in starting last week.” Abes hand flexed in the air as he spoke, twitching in unease. He hadn't liked Russia either. “Covered in dark brown hair, the creature stands anywhere from six feet to eight feet tall. A mix between an ape and a dog has been the consistent report of the appearance.”

“Great. Did these people pass by it or did they have a more up close and personal encounter.” She sat the book down on the table, turning to face the boys. “I dont want to go on another wild goose chase.” Manning had finally implemented a screening process for sightings and reports so they didn't have to go around the world chasing false leads, but sometimes hoaxes still slipped through the cracks. 

“Someone hit it with their car.” Hellboy said smug. “Got fur all in the hood and even a blood sample. Its coming back as contaminated since its showing both human and animal DNA.”

Liz sighed. “You will never hear me ever being excited to go to Wisconsin.”

“Lets pack some bags and head out.” Abe closed the book with finality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz was reading the witness reports in the back of the truck as Hellboy readied his weapons. Most of the reports had come from the eighties and nineties with new ones cropping up in present day. “How old do you think this thing is?”

“Longer than twenty years, I believe. Werewolves in general, of course, date back further but this one known as the Beast of Bray Road has been more widely popular. The reported sightings had tapered out in the late nineties but had started up again recently. We are unsure if it is the same creature from the past or a new entity claiming the area as its home.” Abe reached over to Liz for the reports and scanned them. “All of the sightings are extremely similar to the ones in the past, which leads us to believe it may be the same creature.”

Hellboy finished loading his gun and clicked it shut. “Well I hope it likes silver.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elkhorn Wisconsin was a rural area. Lots of farms which would be good places for a beast to wander. The team pulled up to a house on the edge of town. The woman that lived there was the most recent sighting of the creature. She had been driving late at night, coming back home after a shopping run when a creature had run into the side of her car. She had stopped and started to get out to look at it until she saw the odd shape. When it had stood up and she had gotten an actual look at it, she had drove away as fast as she could and the creature had followed her a bit before it broke off and headed for the woods. After having her reaccount her sighting then team moved to set up camp in a house nearby. They had rented the place out for a week and they could renew at the end if they needed more time. Liz really hoped it wouldn't take a week to find this creature but she felt like luck wouldn't be on her side with this. Lots of people had come hunting the creature before and had never seen even a hint of it in the area. They were more trained than the average monster hunter but she figured the werewolf had only gotten better at avoiding people over time.

After setting everything up in the rooms of the house, the initial team of BPRD agents decided to head out and survey the scene. Hellboy, Liz and Abe stayed back to set up their own equipment and gear up so they could go search after dusk.

The agents had went to the spot of the last sighting to see if there was any evidence left behind. Unfortunatley it had been two days since the sighting and the rain that had happened the day before would have washed everything away. They were taking pictures when the team heard noises in the distance. They turned to the forest where they heard snuffling and movement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellboy, Liz, and Abe were sitting in the living room of the house waiting for the team to come back with their initial assessment. It had been hours and they wondered if they had found something or if they were just lost. 

“Where in the hell are they?” Hellboy peeked through the front window again.

“Maybe they got lost?” Liz came up behind him, wrapping her arms around is stomach and peering around him to look out also. “And here when we got up this morning I thought we were going to have the whole day to ourselves.” Every time it seemed like they would get a little time to themselves something happened. She wanted more dates instead of just settling for movie nights at home waiting for the alarm to sound. She wanted more time spent alone with him. 

“But we do babe. Just you me…and a werewolf…” He smirked, kissing the top of her head.

“Oh yeah what great way to spend out weekend.” She rolled her eyes and turned around, only to jump because Abe was standing right behind her with his hand held up in the air.

“We may have a problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part is the very short, slightly updated part from a tumblr ask I got on lizsherman-sparky. Im already working on the next chapter but I wanted to just put this part up to begin with.


	2. Remind me why I do this again?

Liz tried not to jump when she heard scrabbling at the door, and pulled her gun out of its holster to aim it. She nodded at Hellboy when he put his hand on the handle to open it, his gun drawn in his other hand. However the door swung open before he could pull it open himself and Grant, one of the agents on the surveying team, stumbled in gasping for breath. Hellboy caught him as he tripped on the rug just inside the door.

"What happened?" Hellboy asked as he walked him towards the couch.

Grant was covered in mud but underneath that first layer of dirt Liz could see flecks of red. Blood. His suit was torn in quiet a few places which did not bode well for them. He was wearing the tac team suit that also came with a bullet proof vest. The vest had puncture marks all over it. Whatever had him, which it was looking like their Bray Road friend, got up close and personal. It must have had sharp enough claws to pierce the vest. She cursed under her breath.

"Are you hurt?" She asked, even knowing it was a stupid question while she turned, closing the door behind them and putting her gun away. There was getting injured, which most of them could work through and function still. Then there was hurt, which put you down for the count. She was hoping it was the former but didn't have a good feeling about this.

Grant panted for a little while more, eyes darting around the room in fear before Hellboy snapped his fingers in front of his face to get his attention.

"Common Grant, give us something to work with here."

Grant swallowed loudly before he relaxed into the couch like a puppet whos strings had been cut. "I-its huge. It....it ripped Kenny apart before we even knew we were being followed." He swallowed thickly and then looked up to see that Abe had went to the kitchen to grab him a glass of water. "Thank you." He took a few greedy sips before sighing. Liz took the cup from his shaking hands when he was done and sat it on the coffee table. Grant started again. "We had headed to the scene where the woman said the creature had hit her car and then followed her for a few miles. There wasn't any evidence of the incident happening, probably due to the rain from the previous day." He shook himself to try and gather his thoughts and Liz was surprised at how thorough he was being in telling the events. But that was always how Grant was, professional and efficient. "We had walked the road, the same path that she would have driven trying to get away from the creature. A few of the team had headed to check the edge of the woods for any signs of where it could have run off to when they reported hearing some noises. We all converged on the area the noise was coming from but it kept seeming to drift further into the woods. I know now that it was leading us away from the road and deeper into the woods. It was trying to make us lost so we couldn't find our way back for help. It knew we were here for it."

He started scrabbling at his vest, trying to get it off and growing more frustrated when his hands didn't seem to cooperate. Liz bent down to help him and he grunted in frustration. There was more blood under the vest as she helped him peel out of it. Abe quickly went to the bathroom to get a washrag to try to clean up a bit. Liz's main concern, however, was that it seemed like the wounds had already stopped bleeding. It wasn't a good sign.

"It started trying to pick us off, one by one. It got Kenny a few minutes into searching the forest and it was hell after that. Kenny didn't even have time to draw his gun, which he should have fucking had out to start with. I always tell him that as soon as we hear movement he needs to draw his gun but he never listens. Never listens..." He trailed off for a moment, his eyes not seeing anything in front of him as he relived the last few hours in his mind. He and Kenny had been really close so this was probably hitting him very hard. He had been the agent training him when he had just come in a few months prior, straight from the New York state police. That kind of environment always brought good BPRD agents who could handle crazy situations like swarming monsters that weren’t so much different then frenzied sports fans on game day. And now he was gone. "It literally ripped him in half. It dug its claws in and then just pulled, like he was taffy." He shuddered again. "After that it was pure hell. It was like everyone had forgotten all their training and they suddenly became useless. I tried to call them into formation but no one was listening. They panicked and started running for where they thought the road was, but the creature had turned us around so much that they headed in the wrong direction. I tried to get them to stop but they wouldn't listen."

The team hadn't been a mix of too many new members so it was strange that they couldn't get it into gear and fall back into formation. Seeing Kenny die must have really spooked them, and by the look on Grants face Liz knew that was probably the case. He looked haunted and he would probably carry that look with him for the rest of his life. "It started picking us off. I tried to get a few shots in but it was extremely fast and knew that if it ducked behind a team member I would stop shooting. When it went for Carol I had grabbed a large branch that had fallen nearby and ran at it. I hit it a few times trying to pry it off of her and it turned on me. It clawed and tried to bite at my throat but i used the branch to keep it away and held off. Its claws still hurt like a son of a bitch. It had ducked and was tearing into my shoulder with its teeth by the time Carol had gathered herself and got off a shot." He started rubbing at the shoulder which had the most blood staining around it that they could see now that the vest was off. It had stopped bleeding now as well as all of the scratch marks on his torso. "The thing turned on her so fast that I couldn't do anything but watch. It ripped her to shreds. It must have thought that I would be down because of the pain because it didn't keep an eye on me while it was finishing with her. I got up and ran towards the base. I didn't hear it following me at all the way here but maybe we should check the window."

He stood up suddenly, like he was going to go do just that, when Hellboy put his hand on his good shoulder and pulled him back to the couch. "Liz can look outside. You need to get that shirt off so Abe can have a look and Im going to go call in and let them know what happened."

Granted nodded his head and started to take off his shirt before speaking. "Well at least we know one thing now."

"Whats that?" Hellboy asked, turning from where he had started to head into the other room where the landline was to make the call to headquarters back in Colorado.

"Silver works. The son of a bitch was smoking where Carol had shot it."

"Well aint that something."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was as bad as they had thought. Once Grant had gotten his shirt off they saw with their own eyes that his wounds had stopped bleeding and had even started healing a bit.

"Shit." He cursed, throwing his shirt angrily to the floor. "Thats just fucking great."

Liz had never heard him curse so much. He was normally so cool and collected anytime they had been on missions together and even just greeting each other in the hallway. This was not a good sign. Abe quickly ran the washrag over his body, taking off as much blood and dirt as he could so he could get a better look at the injuries.

He tilted his head in thought. "Yes it looks as though the wounds are weeks old rather than hours. How long was it from the time the creature bit you until you found your way back to the base?"

Grant scrubbed a dirty hand through his hair. "Probably not even an hour. This isn't good is it?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"I'm afraid not. Your cells have already started the turn over, trying to work to heal the wounds. I would say the infection took root the minute after it bit you and running through the woods, exerting yourself and making your blood pump faster, probably expedited the process."

Grant sighed and looked over at Liz. He looked so tired in that instance, like the weight of the world that he had been trying to carry on his shoulders was finally starting to weigh him down. "So what happens now?"

"Full moons not for a few days still. Thats normally when the first change takes place. You can go back to Colorado if you want, get situated there and wait it out." Even before she finished talking he was shaking his head.

"No. I want this thing dead for what it did to my team." He picked his shirt up off of the floor where he had thrown it. "I'm going to go shower. We can figure out a plan when I get back."

Liz watched him walk off before turning to Abe. "Would we even have anything here to contain him during the first change? Its always the most violent and most people go out of their minds during it."

His fingers twitched in the air while he thought about their situation. "We do have a basement in our lodging. If we can find a way to reinforce the door then it should work." He tilted his head in thought. "Some end up keeping their minds during their first change, and I believe that if anyone could do that, it would be Grant."

"I don't think we can take that risk. He goes in that night if we havent packed it in by then. Now lets go see if we have anything to secure that door here or if we have to make a trip into town."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The brass had wanted to double their team but Hellboy had quickly refused. If the Beast, which they had now shortened to calling it, could take out a whole team of trained agents then they didn't need more of the same. They sent five more agents who had more knowledge and time spent hunting were creatures and that included Ben Daimio. He was not pleased to be called in for this but when he took one look at Grants tired eyes he knew it was the right choice to come.

He clapped him on the shoulder when the team members came in the door to set up. "Welcome to the club brother."

Grants lips twitched in a smile. "I'm more of a cat person myself."

Daimio chuckled. "And I'm more of a dog person." He wrapped his arm around Grants shoulder, pulling him to walk with him. "I'll help you get through this. Don't worry. And look on the bright side, at least you didn't die."

Grant snorted. "Yeah I guess there is that."

While Daimion lead Grant away to his room and the others set up, Liz turned to Hellboy. "So I get it, he's a werejaguar which means he has some experience in this situation but couldn't they send someone else?" She crossed her arms over her chest as she tried to keep her eyes from looking down the hall where the two men had just went.

"Babe, you really gotta learn to play nice. He is the best in this situation. You gotta get over your issues with him."

She ground her teeth together. "Don't call me babe." She smacked his chest and pulled her hand away when he tried to grab it. "Thats easy for you to say. He didn't try to kill you recently. Twice!" She huffed and started walking away towards the kitchen.

"Oh c'mon he's tried to kill me plenty of times. Just not recently. You are clearly his new favorite."

She flipped him off as she turned the corner into the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the team had gotten situated they all met up with Liz in the kitchen for coffee and to go over their plan.

”I don’t think chasing it in the woods is a good idea. It got the drop on us too fast and it’s been living in this territory for who knows how long, so it probably knows how to get away from us if we do end up sneaking up on it.” Grant had his hip leaning against a kitchen counter and tapped on his cup in thought. “We could probably go talk to more locals about sightings and see if we can get a clearer idea of its operating path. Where it’s normal territory and hunting routes are.”

”I agree.” Ben leaned against the counter next to him with his arms cross over his chest. The look on his face pulled the scar a bit and Liz wondered for a moment if he had phantom pain from it. She knew that her scars hurt sometimes, especially in the cold. It was all psychosomatic but it still bothered her. Not that she would ever say out loud. “We need to stay away from the woods until we get a good plan on formation and how to contain it. We sent word out to get a few traps sent here. They aren’t anything special really but if we can find a way to drive the beast towards them, they will hold it. I’m not sure if it retains its intelligence while shifted or not so that may work in our favor.”

”If you mean ‘does it still act human while shifted’, it does.” Grant said, agitated. “The way it hunted us in that woods, there’s no way there wasn’t human thought behind those actions.”

”If it doesn’t stay in that form all of the time it may be a member of the town.” Some of the team looked uneasy as Liz said this. “If we go around asking too many questions that may tip it off to how our investigation is going. We should read up on all of the encounters the locals have had and then follow up with them. Stick to those people until we gather more information and then we could go into town to talk to others and see who may have had a run in and not reported it.”

”I will be reading up on all of the various ways to capture a werewolf. And if that fails, how to kill it.” Abe held up a book for the team to look at. “So far we know that silver has been confirmed. This book may contain more knowledge that we can use. There is a particularly interesting chapter on plants that may be poisonous to the creature.”

Hellboy snorted. “Pretty sure wolfsbane is poisonous to all creatures Abe.” He stood up from the table, stretching. “Alright, human passing people grab your gear and head out. I’ll figure out something to do with myself here until you get back.”

Ben snorted. “As long as you don’t go out hunting this creature without us, you could take a nap for all I care.”

”Great, were on the same wave length. Team bonding is paying off.”

Liz waited until all of the team had filed out of the kitchen except her and Hellboy before speaking. “Really though Red, don’t go off chasing this thing without back up.”

Helboy smirked at her. “Who me? I would never.” He wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her closer to him. “You know you could stay here with me. Make sure I don’t get into any trouble. And we would have the house all to ourselves.”

She snorted, patting his chest before pulling away. “And Abe.”

Hellboy pouted. “He wouldn’t even notice us here with his head stuck in a book.” He snapped his fingers excitedly as an idea passed his mind. “We could have a date while their gone. A little dinner and a movie.”

”That sounds more like our everyday lives when not working rather than a date.” She knew it wasn’t fair to think that way. It wasn’t like Hellboy could go out in public. But since their first date they hadn’t really done much since. It had been months since then and Liz was going a little stir crazy with the mundane routine they had.

”I can think of something else. Just stay with me here while they go out.”

She rolled her eyes at him but grinned. “Maybe. If you can come up with a plan in the next thirty minutes while I take a quick shower.”   
  
Hellboy smirked at her again. “I could always join you in the shower and think of a plan there.”

”Easy Casanova, I don’t wanna be out of commission for breaking a leg in the shower.”

Hellboy got serious all of a sudden, staring at her intensely. “I would never let you fall Liz.”

She swallowed thickly and her voice came out as almost a whisper. “I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben is kind of going to be a mix from the comic and the 2019 movie. I didn't read enough about him in the comics (and I don't like the last one that I had read where he gets killed) so basically he suffered the attack with his men in Bolivia where he died from his wounds, including the one from the comics that he has on his face, before waking up in the morgue. He doesn't change at night like he did for a while in the comics, but he does change from stress (flashes of ptsd) and sometimes he can force the change if he gets angry enough. He and Liz don't get along very well but they can be kind of civil....sometimes.....


End file.
